A journey in words...

Welcome to my journey in words! A story about health, exercise, weight loss, food addiction, humor, size discrimination, sarcasm, social commentary and all the rest that’s rattling around inside my head...

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Saturday, October 3, 2009

Dinner Off, Shopping & The Big Saturday Breakfast

Three things today…

The first is the Big Saturday Breakfast. My husband Ted and I like to sleep in on Saturdays. When we eventually rise, we enjoy meandering to the kitchen and cooking something together which we then enjoy as a family. Sometimes breakfast fajitas, sometimes scrapple, sometimes waffles. Either way it usually involves some form of egg and breakfast meat and is always pretty calorific.

How could I give that up?

I decided I couldn’t… so today after waking I described to Ted (my husband) what I wanted to do. By the time I arrived downstairs after my shower he had everything prepped, chopped and ready for me because he’s absolutely fantastic.

So here’s what I did…

In a teaspoon of butter; I sautéed up about a quarter of a sweet onion until it was slightly translucent and just beginning to caramelize. Then I added about half of a chopped, fresh tomato. I seasoned both at this point with salt and pepper. Then over the veggie mix I poured ONE scrambled egg. Just one – it was all that was needed to hold the mixture together like fabulous veggie glue.

The resulting pile was HUGE and very satisfying. When I tabulated it up on the Daily Plate it came to only 175 calories, so I added in a little round bread as well – bringing my Big Saturday Breakfast to a grand total of 275 calories. Sweet!

This technique of course is great with whatever vegetable you have on hand; mushrooms, spinach, asparagus – whatever you have and whatever you like. I particularly enjoy the fresh tomato with it because for some reason they combine fabulously with egg.

After that I went shopping with Teddi. As many people may tell you I’m not allowed to shop alone. Because I don’t. If left to my own devices I will wander three to five feet into a store, glance around halfheartedly and then decide that nothing inside will fit – and bam, I’m outta there. I will then happily wear the same clothing (usually in two to three sizes too large) until it has become rags and is practically falling off of my body. The only reason I went this time, is because a well meaning friend at work quietly told me it was time.

And she was right. My work pants are in such poor condition that the hems at the bottom are fraying open. Also a number of my sweaters are stained and one is so big that it looks like a misplaced circus tent. So off I went with my patient, resident shopper in tow and my husband’s blessing.

The good news is that I’m apparently wearing a size 22 in some brands, down from my top size of 28. The other good news is I don’t think I drove Teddi completely crazy, just possibly semi-crazy. She has the patience of a saint when it comes to finding me clothes.

At one point I stepped out of the dressing room in a really beautiful, light spring dress that was on clearance and announced to her across the crowded store “I feel naked.”

No… I really don’t sound these things out in my head before pronouncing them. Obviously.And no… I didn’t buy it, though I probably should have, it was both lovely and flattering.

At any rate we both survived, and that brings me to… Dinner Off.

Dinner Off is a concept I find very important in this process. It basically refers to a single meal in an otherwise strictly low calorie day when I don’t count calories, don’t scrimp and simply don’t worry and think about weight loss – not for long, just a couple of hours.

Doing Dinner Off once a week isn’t a good idea. Doing it once every two or three months? Not a problem. And it keeps me sane. It makes me remember that hey, I can still go out and just enjoy food every now and then and not obsess over it. Quite frankly if I obsess all the time and at every meal my friends are going to kill me.

So I had a fabulous dinner off at an awesome Asian buffet… I celebrated the pan fried dumplings, the crab Rangoon, the sugared doughnuts, the Chinese barbeque chicken, the breaded shrimp and these fabulous little shrimp fritter thingies. All of it.

Afterward I feel thoroughly satisfied if perhaps a teeny bit stuffed; and I’m going to drop about 2,000 calories onto my Plate total for today – trying to figure it out piece by piece is an exercise in futility. I prepped for it in advance by otherwise only having my 275 calorie Big Saturday Breakfast, and did plenty of moving while we were out shopping for the afternoon. So the great thing is; I don’t even feel guilty.